[wp-docs] I'm off on one :)

[Tor Bjornrud]

Podz wrote:

> The fact that 60+ people will read and ignore this mail along with all 
> the others does irritate me - WHY did you subscribe ? and if you aren't 
> contributing, why not UNsubscribe ? - but that's a personal annoyance - 
> I won't get over it but I will shut up - until next time :)

I subscribe because while I don't frequently offer much help, it's nice 
to be able to voice your opinion every now and then.   It seems all too 
often that in open source development, those who haven't committed work 
on something have their opinion modded down, simply because of lack of 
contribution.  The value I see in having lurkers in the community is 
illustrated by the following example.

If Phyllis lurks on wp-docs and doesn't help with the doc effort but 
remains subscribed to wp-docs, she's infinitely more likely to voice 
discontent if she sees the project take a turn for the worse.  If she 
hadn't subscribed, she'd never have the opportunity to contribute. 
Furthermore the fact she hasn't contributed doesn't make any 
contribution to discussion more or less valid.  There's another value in 
lurkers-- the silent consent of the majority, an approval of the process.

Getting as many bodies as possible involved in the development process 
is a Good Thing (tm)  even if all those people do is watch.  One day 
someone could have an "Eureka!" and enlighten us all.

~Tor